WBPCC Gen Secy again writes to Sonia urging alliance with LF

Days after the CPI(M) asked the Congress to take a call on an alliance before the West Bengal Assembly elections, WBPCC general secretary Om Prakash Mishra today wrote a letter to party president Sonia Gandhi urging her to seize the opportunity and be at the forefront of the electoral and political battle with TMC and BJP.
"In the last three days two CPI(M) Politburo members, Mohammed Salim and state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra have openly voiced their support for a tie up with Congress and had called upon the Congress leadership to take an expeditious decision.
"We must seize this political opportunity before us. Congress must be at the forefront of the electoral and political battle to defeat TMC and BJP. Should we decide on the tie up with the Left Front, it would be a win-win situation," Mishra, West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) general secretary wrote in his letter.

Mishra's letter comes after CPI(M) state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra, while addressing a rally on January 10, said "It is now time for the Congress to decide yes or no. Now, the Congress has to decide what it will do. They have to talk to their high command. It may take time. (But) the sooner they take the decision, the better."
This was Om Prakash Mishra's second letter to Gandhi urging her to take a call on an alliance between the Congress and the Left Front.
Citing the inevitable conclusions of the alliance with the CPI(M), Mishra said it shall have a positive impact throughout the country for the revival of the Congress.

Without naming, he also took a dig at Congress leader Manas Bhuniya, who had been advocating for "fighting independently' in the Assembly polls.

"Fighting alone means four cornered contest. This is what the TMC wants. Our desire lies in defeating TMC's desire. So, advocates of the independent line want to perpetuate the TMC misrule. This is a deliberate attempt to weaken the prospects of Congress and strengthen the electoral prospects of TMC," Mishra said.
The Left is hoping that an alliance with the Congress this
time around could queer the pitch for the ruling party, which is almost sure to win the upcoming Assembly elections, a view shared by a section of the Congress, too.

Sources said the view of the Congress' state unit in this regard will also carry weight.
Mamata's visit to 10 Janpath on December 9 to greet Congress President Sonia Gandhi on her birthday had set off speculation about whether the "birthday diplomacy" could signal the coming together of their parties.
Trinamool had been supportive of the Congress on various issues in the last session of Parliament with several in the Congress seeing it as a move by Mamata to keep the Congress away from the Left in West Bengal.
With the West Bengal Assembly elections about three months away, a section of state Congress leaders has been harping on the need for an electoral alliance with the Left Front to take on Trinamool Congress.

Mamata baiters in Congress also say that the Trinamool Congress shared power at the Centre with the BJP in the past, while the Left parties have been "good allies" at the Centre during UPA-I.
Reports from Kolkata last week spoke of growing chorus in the state CPI(M) in favour of forging an alliance with Congress.
In the CPI(M)'s state committee meeting in West Bengal, several party leaders had called for an alliance with Congress to take on the "bigger evil" Trinamool Congress.
The final decision on the issue will be taken by the party's Central Committee on February 17-18.
Former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and CPI(M) state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra have called upon the Congress to join hands to oust the TMC. Mamata had last week mocked CPI(M) and Congress for their efforts to forge an alliance, a reaction which the opposition parties termed as "a reflection of her fear of losing".